


the hope of it all

by moonsongthemarauder



Series: we were something don't you think so? [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Album: folklore (Taylor Swift), Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Drama, F/M, First Love, First Time, Harry Potter Next Generation, Romance, Song: august (Taylor Swift), Summer Love, some nice summer love for scorose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:40:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25880731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonsongthemarauder/pseuds/moonsongthemarauder
Summary: Rose Weasley knew that Scorpius Malfoy was going to make her summer a whole lot more interesting than it was originally supposed to be.A story of summer love and the hope it gives you.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Series: we were something don't you think so? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878040
Comments: 14
Kudos: 62





	1. june + july

**Author's Note:**

> Based on 'august' from Taylor Swift's new album, folklore.

**_June_ **

Rose Weasley knew Scorpius Malfoy. Not well, but she knew things about him.

She knew that he, like her, had just finished his sixth year at Hogwarts and would be going into his seventh year in the fall. She knew he was in Slytherin, while she was in Ravenclaw. She knew that he played Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team. She knew that the only times she ever really saw him at Hogwarts was during their shared classes of Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. She knew he was an only child. She knew that his friend group wasn’t exactly known for being kind and welcoming to others that were outside their social circle. She knew that he was fairly smart and earned good marks. She knew many other things about him, just as one would when you were in the same year for six years at a school of only a few hundred students.

Rose Weasley did not, however, know why Scorpius Malfoy was sitting at her kitchen table.

Scorpius looked up at where she was standing at the base of the stairs, a confused look on her face. An easy smile came onto his face.

“Hey Weasley,” Scorpius said.

“Hi,” Rose said, moving more into the kitchen. “Um, not to be rude, but why are you at my house?”

“Oh, I’m hanging out with Al,” Scorpius said gesturing to the living room.

Rose glanced at the living room, noticing its absence of Albus, before looking back at Scorpius still confused.

“Is Al invisible?” Rose asked, because that could be the only explanation for why he was nowhere to be found.

Scorpius let out a little laugh.

“That’s funny Weasley,” he said, shooting her bright smile. “No, he’s borrowing Hugo’s Wizard Chess game. Al’s pieces aren’t listening to him so he doesn’t want to play with them. Convinced they will work against him.”

“Of course, Al can never just accept the fact that he’s lousy at chess,” Rose replied, shaking her head as memories of Al’s intense reaction to losing came to mind.

“Yes, that appears to be something that I’m learning about him,” Scorpius said, which made Rose realize that she knew something else about Scorpius.

Despite the fact, that Scorpius and Albus were in the same house and year, they were not friends. While they were respectful and polite, they never spent time together, especially during a school break.

Rose knew that asking about it was something her mother would consider rude however Rose’s curiosity got the better of her.

“Why are you hanging out with Al?” Rose asked. “I thought you two traveled in different circles.”

“We do,” Scorpius admitted, looking slightly uncomfortable at my question. “However, I have decided it might be best to…take some time away from my circle.”

“Why?” Rose asked, before she could stop herself. She knew that she was being invasive and that she should have taken his nonverbal cues that he clearly, didn’t want to talk about it. But Rose was very bad at letting her curiosity lie.

Scorpius smirked at her. “Practicing your interrogation skills?”

“No,” Rose said, her face turning red. “I just…was curious. You don’t have to answer. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“You’re okay,” Scorpius said, smiling at her. “Mila and I had another falling out and I felt that it was best to keep some distance.”

Ah. Mila. Scorpius’s on and off again girlfriend. Rose knew that they had been back and forth in their relationship since fourth year and went in and out of relationships so fast that hardly anyone could keep track.

“Oh,” Rose responded. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Scorpius said, shrugging. “I have a lot going on that I felt keeping some distance from her and our friends might have been good. Fortunately, Al told me to reach out to him if I wanted to hang out this summer.”

Rose wanted to ask him what was going on that made him feel like distance would be good, but she knew that she would be being nosy and, he appeared not to want to discuss it more, considering that he began talking again before she could respond.

“So Weasley, do you have any plans for the summer?”

Rose sat down at the table, across from Scorpius. “Not really. Probably just spending time with family, maybe going to Diagon Alley a few times, and getting ahead on reading for next year.”

“Of course,” Scorpius said with a teasing grin. “Must start seventh year already having read at least half the year’s material.”

“Well it’s our N.E.W.T.s and I want to make sure I do okay,” Rose said, flushing. She looked down at her lap, feeling slightly embarrassed. She suddenly remembered how Scorpius’s friends were often the people teasing her for her bookishness. “This year is supposed to be harder than all our years so far and I just want to make sure—"

“Rose,” Scorpius said, cutting her off. Rose looked up at him, feeling something in her stomach at the way his voice said her name, and saw that he was looking at her kindly. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel badly. It was just some friendly teasing.”

“Right,” Rose mumbled.

Her face was still warm between his comments on her interrogating him and teasing her about studying. While being teased about studying was common for Rose, whether it be done lovingly by her family and friends or done more maliciously by, well Mila and her friends, Rose never stopped getting flustered by the comments. Hearing them come from Scorpius after having such a nice conversation with him caused her to want to go back into her shell where she could predict where the conversation would go. So far, Scorpius had kept her on her toes the whole conversation and she couldn’t help feeling her stomach flip each time.

However, it was possible that the stomach flipping was because despite her best efforts not to notice, Rose knew that Scorpius Malfoy was by far one of the most attractive guys she had ever met.

And he was here, in her kitchen, having the longest conversation that they’ve ever had.

“If it bothers you, I will try not to tease you in the future when we hang out,” Scorpius said.

Rose raised her eyebrows. “We’re hanging out in the future?”

“I mean, I figured we might as well. I’m looking for more friends and you can’t help but spend our whole conversation flirting with me,” Scorpius said, a cheeky smile on his face.

Rose’s eyes went wide. “Wh-what?”

“Hey Scorp, I got the game,” Al said, suddenly coming into the kitchen with the box. “Oh hey Rosie!”

“Hi Al,” Rose said, trying to act normal and not like she was completely confused by her interaction with the blond boy across from her.

“Do you want to come over and play Wizard Chess with us? Maybe I’ll actually beat you this time,” Al boasted.

“No,” Rose said, keeping her eyes on Al and not on Scorpius, who still had that cheeky smile on his face.

“Okay. Well, we better get going,” Al said, walking towards the door. “See you Rose!”

Rose and Scorpius stood up at the same time and although Rose wanted to do nothing more than go to her room and analyze the conversation with Scorpius (and wonder what the hell was happening), she instead walked both him and Albus to the door.

Rose opened the door and Al gave a quick wave before he walked out.

“Hey give me a second, okay Al?” Scorpius asked, stopping at the door opening.

Al stopped walking, looking back at him, clearly confused. Al’s eyes slid over to Rose, before looking at Scorpius seriously.

“You’re not going to hit on my cousin, are you?” Al asked. “Because this is the first time we’re hanging out and that seems a little fast to already be making the moves on family members.”

Scorpius shook his head with a grin. “No, I just wanted to ask her about a class we have next year.”

“Ah, well Rose would be the person to ask,” Al said. He looked over at Rose, clearly checking that it was okay if he left her with Scorpius. Despite her stomach turning over and the nervousness she felt, she nodded at Al, more curious about what Scorpius had to say than anything else.

Although she always enjoyed predictable conversations, she found herself drawn to Scorpius and the way he kept her on her toes.

With her nod, Al saluted them both, walking through the lawn to his house next door.

“For some reason I find myself doubting that you have a question about classes,” Rose said, looking up at Scorpius.

“Well, clearly you were not put in Ravenclaw by mistake,” Scorpius said with a smirk. “No, I was actually going to say that I know you weren’t flirting with me that whole conversation.”

“Okay,” Rose said, slowly, knowing that more was coming. Scorpius’s eyes looked too micievious to end his thought there.

“I however, was flirting with you the whole conversation,” Scorpius continued, causing Rose’s stomach to flip. “And I hope that one day, I’ll actually get to see you flirt back for a whole conversation.”

Rose shook her head, not fully believing what she was hearing. “I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

“Well that’s a mystery I will leave you to figure out then,” Scorpius quipped. He flashed her one last dazzling smile. “I’ll see you around Weasley.”

And with that, Scorpius Malfoy walked out the door and over to the Potter house.

Rose shut the door, leaning back against it. She took a few deep breaths, hoping that her stomach would stop flipping and that somehow, she would be able to piece together what the hell just happened.

She did know now one thing that happened.

Rose Weasley knew that Scorpius Malfoy was going to make her summer a whole lot more interesting than it was originally supposed to be.

* * *

**_July_ **

Rose saw Scorpius in passing for the rest of June and the early part of July . Each time, he would give her that same, flirty smile and, no matter how short the conversation, would keep her on her toes with where it would go. He would always try to say something to make her blush or let her guard down slightly, and would always end the conversation with “No, you’re not flirting with me yet”.

And after each interaction with him, Rose found herself wanting more.

There hadn’t been a long opportunity to actually talk until one night, when Al invited Rose, Hugo and Rose’s best friend Layla over to the Potter house for a game night. Lily and Scorpius were also there and they ended up playing boys verses girls of many different party games that Harry and Hermione had taught them when they were younger.

It was during a game of charades when Rose snuck into the kitchen to grab herself a butterbeer and see if she could find any snacks. It wasn’t long after that Scorpius joined her, causing her heart to speed up.

“I must say, Weasley, I’m impressed with your miming skills,” Scorpius said. “If only you had better teammates. I thought it was very clear that you were supposed to be Rita Skeeter.”

“Thank you,” Rose said, opening a cabinet and pulling out some crackers. “I thought pretending that I was writing and having bug eyes would make it clear, but alas, Layla and Lily seemed to disagree.”

“Well, maybe they have not had the pleasure of her writing about them in the press,” Scorpius replied, watching her as she hopped onto the counter to eat. “Makes it so that she is not near their mind at all.”

Rose tilted her head at him. “Has she written about you?”

“A few times,” Scorpius said, shrugging as he reached for a butterbeer. “She had written about mine and Mila’s relationship frequently before I think it got too complicated for even her to follow or embellish.”

“Hmm,” Rose replied, nodding.

Although lately Rose had been wanting nothing more than having conversations with Scorpius, she always found herself feeling uncomfortable (and, if she was being honest a little insecure in herself) whenever Scorpius mentioned Mila. She knew they had history and knew, before Scorpius even told her the first time, that it was complicated.

But the past few weeks since she first saw him in her kitchen, when he admitted he had been flirting with her, she couldn’t help but feel like he was continuing to flirt with her and genuinely wanted to flirt with her. She allowed herself, sometimes, to consider that maybe he also felt the craving for more interactions each time they saw each other.

But the mention of Mila, of his beautiful, intelligent, cosmopolitan, on and off again girlfriend, Rose immediately knew she was fooling herself. She knew that there was no way Scorpius Malfoy, equally beautiful, intelligent, and cosmopolitan as his revolving door of a girlfriend, would ever be interested in her, a quiet, introverted Prefect whose idea of a wild night out was playing party games at her cousin’s house.

And yet, she could never completely squash that hope.

“Did Skeeter ever write about you?” Scorpius asked her, jumping to sit on the counter next to her.

Rose immediately became very aware of how close their bodies were as Scorpius reached over for a cracker from the box she was holding.

“A few times,” Rose said, taking a small bite of the cracker. “Nothing too bad. Tried to say I was dating one of the Woods brothers, I think it was Luke Woods, when I was in fourth year, but didn’t have enough evidence to be believed. Now she typically only includes me in pieces about my parents and cousins since it’s hard to find anything scandalous in my life. I’m not exactly someone that holds attention from other people, especially when my loud family is around.”

As if on cue, Albus started yelling, clearly trying to guess what Hugo was miming.

“I don’t know if I agree with that Weasley,” Scorpius said. He lightly kicked her foot with his. “You’ve held my attention all summer so far. And I don’t know how that’s going to be changing any time soon.”

Rose let out a breath, feeling her face flush. She leaned back against the wall and looked at him.

“You really like that joke don’t you Malfoy?”

“It’s not a joke,” Scorpius said. “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. You’ve held a lot of people’s attention before.”

Rose wanted to ask, so badly, who’s attention she has held. Normally, she would have interrogated that trying to find the information to make sense of what she did so that she could repeat it when she actually wanted to hold someone’s attention.

But instead, she found herself suppressing that instinct and going with one that scared her slightly more.

Flirting.

Or at least, attempting to.

“Well you would know all about holding people’s attention, wouldn’t you?” Rose asked. “Considering how many girls are always talking about how dreamy you are and the fact that you are dating one of the most beautiful girls in school.”

“ _Was_ dating,” Scorpius said. “It’s very important that you realize that relationship is a past tense thing.”

“Currently it is,” Rose said, sitting forward and leaning closer to him. “Who knows what it will be like in two months. I can only think of one thing that maybe, just maybe, would stop you from going back to her.”

Scorpius looked down at her and Rose wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw his eyes cast down to her lips for a quick second.

“And what is that?” he said in a low voice.

“Finding someone who holds your attention more than she does,” Rose said back just as quietly.

Now, she definitely didn’t miss the way his eyes trailed down to her lips before slowly moving up her face to meet her eyes again.

“I think I might have found someone to do that,” he said quietly, gulping. Rose thought that he almost seemed nervous, which seemed incredibly out of character for him. Normally, Scorpius Malfoy was the most confident person in a room, in a way that bordered on arrogance. “I’m just not sure how she feels.”

Now, it was Rose’s turn to feel nervous although for her, it was completely in character. A part of her wanted to run away, hyperventilating, not even believing that she even risked humiliating herself by flirting with him. But, more than anything, she kept craving more of Scorpius, was eager to know if the high she felt with him would continue once something beyond flirting happened or if it would fizzle right away.

“Well,” Rose said softly. “All I can say is you’ve held my attention since I found you in my kitchen. So I’m sure that you could hold anyone’s attention you wanted.”

Scorpius nodded, not saying anything.

Slowly, as if an invisible string was pulling them towards each other, Rose and Scorpius slowly started to lean closer together. They closed their eyes, lips only a few inches apart—

Before Layla tripped while walking into the kitchen, dropping her glass and causing it to break, the sound of which caused Rose to leap off the counter and away from Scorpius.

“Oh, fuck,” Layla said as she looked the broken glass next to her.

“Layla, are you okay?” Rose asked, walking over to her friend and helping her up. Scorpius came up beside her and fixed the broken glass.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Layla said, holding up her hand which was bleeding. “Just need a bandage.”

Rose pulled Layla over to the sink to rinse the cut when Al entered the kitchen then with the bandages.

“Here. Heard Layla’s fall and figured she would need this,” Al said, handing the bandage to Rose who put it on the counter before she checked Layla’s hand for any remaining glass.

“You brought the bandages in without even checking on her?” Scorpius asked Al. “You didn’t even know she was bleeding.”

“I knew Rose was in here and would do all that work,” Al responded, shrugging. “When it comes to injuries and sickness, Rose is the Healer. I’m merely the supply boy.”

“Al give yourself some credit,” Rose said, looking up at him and Scorpius while she held the bandage in place. “You’re at least my assistant healer.”

Scorpius let out a laugh and Rose’s eyes slid over to him. They held each other’s gaze for a moment and Rose could feel her face getting warm, causing her to look away with a small smile and start wrapping Layla’s bandage. Rose looked up at Layla’s face, to ask if the bandage was too tight, but was met with a concerned look from her friend instead.

Rose knew her best friend well enough to know that wasn’t a concern about her injury. Rose felt like she knew the concern was more over what Layla might have seen before she fell.

* * *

Rose and Layla didn’t talk about the look Layla gave her while they were still at the Potter house. Even when they went back to Rose’s house and were in her room with the door closed, Layla didn’t bring it up.

That didn’t make Rose confident that she wouldn’t though. Rose felt Layla’s eyes on her, especially when she was around Scorpius, for the reminder of the time that they were at Al’s house. Rose knew that Layla was trying to find the words to say what she wanted to say and put any negative things she had to say in the gentlest words possible.

It wasn’t until they were lying in the dark that night, Rose in her bed, Layla in a cot that Rose’s mum conjured into her room, that Layla finally mentioned Scorpius at all.

“I don’t know what I walked in when I fell,” Layla started, keeping her voice gentle. “But…be careful where Scorpius Malfoy is concerned Rose. You know how he and Mila are.”

“There’s nothing to be careful about,” Rose responded, trying to keep her voice light. Rose was grateful for the dark and distance between their beds, because she knew her face would have given away all the secret feelings that have been popping up since she stumbled on Scorpius in her kitchen. “We’re just friends. I’m just getting to know him because he said he needed new friends.”

“I know, but I also know you Rose. And I don’t want you to get involved with him when it’s more than likely he’ll just go back to Mila, like he always does.” Layla sighed. “You deserve a better guy than that.”

“We’re…we’re just friends Lay,” Rose said. “I don’t have any feelings for him besides that.”

There was a moment of silence, and Rose was certain that Layla didn’t believe her at all. But Layla, being the good friend she was, knew that there was nothing she could do to change Rose’s mind about how she was feeling about Scorpius Malfoy.

* * *

Al, unlike Layla, seemed oblivious to whatever was going on between Rose and Scorpius.

Of course, Rose wasn’t sure that there was anything even going on anymore. Since their almost kiss the week before, each time Rose saw Scorpius, he acted as he normally did but wasn’t as overtly flirty as he had been in the past. There were no more comments about how he was going to get Rose to flirt with him one day and definitely no more almost kisses.

Rose wondered if maybe the high of chasing her had worn off and he had gotten bored. Or it was possible that he realized that she was Rose Weasley and that there was no way, even if he was trying to get new friends, that he should date her after spending nearly three years with Mila.

Or, and this was Rose’s least favorite way to think, maybe he had actually gotten back together with Mila.

“Alright, what do you guys think of this outfit?” Al asked, coming down to the living room where Rose, Scorpius and Lily were sitting.

“I fail to see how that is different than the last two outfits you wore,” Lily said. “The only difference is that this t-shirt is black and the jeans are darker.”

“Exactly,” Al said. “That makes all the difference in the world.”

Scorpius snorted, causing Rose to look over at him. They made eye contact and smiled at each other before Scorpius looked back at Al.

“Al, I’m not sure I exactly understand why you’re stressing so much about what you wear to this party,” Scorpius said.

“Because, James’s friends will be here,” Albus said.

“Oh, that makes sense,” Rose said, finally understanding. Scorpius looked over at her, questioningly. “Albus may have had a thing with one of James’s friends last year that he has yet to get over.”

“An older woman?” Scorpius asked, looking over at Al with raised eyebrows. “Why Albus Potter, you sly dog.”

“Don’t call him that,” Lily said. “That gives him too much credit. If anything, Sarah was just as thirsty for Al as he was for her so it didn’t take much work on Al’s part.”

Al looked over at Lily, an annoyed look his face. “That wasn’t necessary Lily.”

“I’m just trying to make sure your friend doesn’t think you have more game than you do, Albus,” Lily said. “Because then one day, he may want to go out and actually try to bring you as a wingman only to realize you’re absolutely useless when a cute girl is around.”

Rose suppressed a laugh, something that earned her a glare from Al.

“I am- that’s not- Lily, that’s not true!”

As Lily and Albus started bickering about whether or not Al did have game, Rose got up and went down the hall to where the bathroom was, figuring her presence wouldn’t be missed.

Of course, when she got out of the bathroom, she nearly ran right into Scorpius’s chest, not realizing that he was waiting just beyond the door.

“I see using the bathroom during the Potter sibling bickering is a common idea,” Scorpius said with a grin.

“Typically, they are too distracted to realize that I used that time to find a quiet space,” Rose said. She met his grin, looking up at him smile for a few seconds before realizing that she was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, completely blocking his path. She moved to the side so that the doorway was open. “Sorry, for blocking the bathroom. You caught me off guard.”

“It’s alright,” Scorpius said. He looked into the bathroom but, instead of going in, he looked back at Rose. “Are you going to the party tonight?”

“Probably,” Rose said. “I typically go to every party that someone in the family throws.”

Scorpius gave her an inquisitive look. “Really? You don’t exactly strike me as the party type. I feel like if you were I would have seen you at some parties at Hogwarts.”

“Well, family throwing parties is different,” Rose said shrugging. “Usually I know everyone, so that takes out some of the anxiety that goes along with parties, and also my family would not let me not come to these ones.”

“Ah of course,” Scorpius said, nodding understandingly. “Family obligation is a powerful thing.”

“It sure is,” Rose said. “Fortunately, my cousins don’t pressure me to do anything I’m uncomfortable with like drinking more than I want, so I always feel okay coming to these parties.”

“Well, I look forward to seeing you there then,” Scorpius said. “Will be different seeing Rose Weasley at a party. Not something I’m used to.”

“Oh, I’m full of surprises, Scorpius Malfoy,” Rose said, sending a teasing smile at him.

His eyes went down to her lips and, for the first time since they had almost kissed, Rose felt that same craving for more, craving to know if the high would continue once they kissed.

“I’m sure you are, Rose,” Scorpius said gruffly. He took a deep breath and looked away from her breaking the tension between them. “Well it seems Al will be busy the whole party, chatting Sarah up.”

“More likely they will be snogging before anyone’s second drink,” Rose added.

“Right,” Scorpius said with a smirk. “Well, I’m glad.”

“Why?”

“Because, that means I can continue to flirt with you tonight without him keeping an eye on me,” Scorpius said with a cheeky smile. Rose’s face flushed and her heart started hammering. “If, of course, that’s alright with you.”

Rose nodded, feeling lightheaded. “I would like that.”

“Good,” Scorpius said. He started walking back down the hall, in the opposite direction of the bathroom. “I’ll see you tonight, Weasley.”

“Don’t you need to go to the bathroom?” Rose asked, immediately cursing herself for asking and ruining the flirty energy in the air.

“Nope,” Scorpius said, turning back at her with a sly smile. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay with us continuing to have this back and forth. I’ve become rather fond of it.”

And with one last smirk, Scorpius turned around, leaving Rose, once again, completely speechless, and craving more.

* * *

“James, please explain again, why are you throwing a party here when you don’t even live here anymore?” Lily asked him as she poured chips in a bowl.

“Because, little sister, Mum and Dad are out of town for Dad’s birthday with Ron and Hermione,” James said. “I live in a small apartment. Mum and Dad live in a large house. Ergo, I can have a bigger party here.”

“Nice use of the word ergo,” Rose said, adding some butterbeers to the ice chest.

“Thank you, cousin,” James responded. “Besides, this way, if they come home and catch us, we can just say that this is a party for Dad.”

“Yes, that will be just what he wants,” Rose quipped. “A house full of drunk teenagers and one of his sons snogging an older woman.”

“Sarah is only one year older than me,” Albus said. “I don’t know why you all act like she’s so much older than me.”

“Because in maturity, she is,” James said. “It could be worse. He would freak out more if Lily was snoggnig Scorpius Malfoy. Or really, if anyone was snogging Scorpius Malfoy.”

“Trust me, I don’t think that I am his type,” Lily said. Rose felt Lily’s eyes glance over to her, causing Rose to focus intensely on arranging the ice chest in front of her. “Besides, it isn’t my fault that Scorpius is coming tonight. It’s all Al’s.”

“Saying it’s my fault makes it sound like a bad thing,” Al said. “He and I are friends. And besides, he needs to make more friends outside of his current group. Sorry that I thought inviting him to a party where I could help him meet more people would be a good place to start.”

“You invited him to a party that you will probably abandon him at to snog your lady friend,” Lily said. Al was about to respond, but Lily cut him off. “Don’t worry though. I’m sure that Rose and him will be able to hang out and she’ll be able to introduce him to people. Layla isn’t coming tonight, so Rose can spend all night with him. Right Rose?”

All three sets of Potter eyes fell on her then. James looked curious if she would actually agree, Al looked hopeful that she would so he could snog Sarah all night, but Lily’s eyes were the ones that made Rose the most nervous. Lily’s eyes were full of mischief, as if she knew that Rose would be all too happy to spend her time with Scorpius and was, really, setting up a perfect way for Rose to spend time with him without causing any suspicion from the rest of the family.

Rose really hated how intuitive Lily was sometimes. But she also appreciated her very much in this moment.

“Yeah sure,” Rose said. “I guess I could do that for you Al.”

Rose noticed Lily smirk at her response. She went back to filling the ice chest with drinks, trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach at the idea of spending all night with Scorpius.

* * *

“So, you’ll come to this party,” Scorpius yelled over the music. “But you won’t come to Eric Mclaggen’s Quidditch parties. I can guarantee you are at least able to hear yourself think.”

“I told you,” Rose shouted, pushing through the crowd to the kitchen. “Family obligation.”

Scorpius of course, was right. The party was loud and packed full of people. It had seemed that James had invited everyone from his year at Hogwarts to the party, plus a lot of people from Al’s year as well. The party had gotten so big that it had extended to the backyard, where people seemed to be able to find some place more quiet. Rose was grateful that Mum and Dad had gone with Ginny and Harry on their trip, otherwise they would be here, breaking up the party and chastising James for throwing it.

Granted, that’s probably why James threw it while all four adults were gone.

As expected, Scorpius had been by her side all night. This was, largely due to the fact that Al, who had been with them for most of the early part of the party, latched his mouth to Sarah’s all of three minutes after she entered the house.

Meaning that the past 2 hours had been spent just her and Scorpius. Alone. With what felt to be a lot of flirting.

Of course, she didn’t know for sure. But she did know that there was a lot of laughing and that they had been closer to each other than they normally were.

Granted that could have been because of the amount of people at the party. And how loud it was, so they had to be close together in order to hear.

“Well maybe I should convince Al to throw some parties next year,” Scorpius said, his breath hot on Rose’s neck from how close he was behind her. “Because I like getting to spend all this time with you.”

Rose’s face warmed and she knew that it wasn’t just because of the amount of people in the house.

She felt Scorpius place a hand on her back, helping guide her through the crowd as she led them to the kitchen for more drinks. Since the party started, and since he drank more and more alcohol, Scorpius had been touching her more frequently than in the past. Not obnoxiously or aggressively, just little touches like grabbing her wrist when he wanted to pull her towards something, putting his hand on her arm to move her out of the way of a drunk guy, or this, putting his hand on her back to stay with her as they walk through the throng of teenagers packed into the house like sardines.

They had finally reached the kitchen, only for Rose to deflate slightly, realizing that she had lead them to the opposite side of the kitchen than the drinks were on.

Scorpius looked over at her with a smirk. “You lead us to the wrong part of the kitchen, didn’t you, Weasley?”

“Not on purpose!” Rose said, her face turning pink. “The drinks must have been moved.”

“Or,” Scorpius said, leaning closer to her. “You are drunker than we both realized.”

Rose snorted. “Yes, that one butterbeer really did me in.”

“Yes, apparently it did,” Scorpius said. Scorpius looked through the crowd of people between them and the drinks. “Alright, how about I go get us our drinks and you head outside? And I’ll meet you out there?”

“You don’t want me to go with you?” Rose asked.

“It will take forever for both of us to get through this crowd,” Scorpius said. “I’ll just go and meet you outside. You got us this far.”

“Sacrificing yourself to get more drinks while I go sit outside,” Rose said, a teasing tone of voice. She put one hand on Scorpius’s chest, playing up her act. “My hero.”

Scorpius reached up, placing his hands over hers on his chest, rubbing his fingers along her knuckles softly.

“Only if you want me to be,” Scorpius said softly.

His eyes, which had just been so playful, changed, reflecting something more serious. It was very similar to the way he looked before they almost kissed, when his eyes were full of want. Rose felt herself lose all the silliness of their previous interaction too as she looked up at Scorpius, her whole body radiating.

Someone pushed into Rose then, knocking her forward and breaking their eye contact. Scorpius grabbed her waist, steadying her, before looking in the direction of the guy who ran into her.

“Hey watch where you’re going, mate,” Scorpius said.

The bloke, who was clearly drunk, looked back at Scorpius and shrugged, mumbling something that could have been an apology. Scorpius shook his head, removing his hands from her waist and taking a step away from her causing Rose to miss the warmth of his body.

“Well, clearly standing here is a hazard,” Scorpius said with a grin, the want in his eyes gone and his teasing smile back on his face. “Why don’t you make your way outside and I’ll meet you there with drinks?”

“Yeah,” Rose said softly, nodding. She felt confused by how he could adjust his feelings so quickly.

Scorpius seemed to pick up on her energy, and looked like he was going to say something before thinking better of it.

“Do you want another butterbeer?” he asked, his voice losing the teasing cadence it had before. Rose nodded. Scorpius frowned, clearly debating with himself if he wanted to say more, before nodding himself. “Okay, well I’ll meet you outside then.”

He started to make his way through the crowd and Rose watched him for a second before turning and walking out the back door to the yard.

She took a few deep breaths, chastising herself for getting lost in the moment. It was so easy for her to get swept up in Scorpius and read into his actions, especially all the actions of the night, and think that maybe he was feeling the same way he was towards her. She had tried to reason with herself, say maybe he is this way with all girls he was friends with, because really, she didn’t know. But she couldn’t stop thinking that there was something very…unplatonic about their interactions.

“Hey! Rose!”

Rose turned towards the sound of the voice, not recognizing it at first. However, when she saw who it belonged to, she burst into a smile.

“Graham!” She said, turning towards him, behind him, she could see Scorpius walk out of the house, drinks in hand.

Graham walked towards her, big smile on his face and when he reached her, hugged her around the waist, picking her up as he did so. Rose hugged him back, laughing as he spun them around.

“Merlin, I’ve missed you,” Graham said as he set her down.

“I missed you too!” Rose said, looking up at Graham. She glanced over his shoulder, for just a second, but long enough to see Scorpius had stopped walking towards her and was looking at her and Graham with a stern look on his face. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here. How has your summer been?”

“Yeah, well, Al invited me so I figured I may as well drop in. Figured I’d see you, which always makes it worth it,” Graham said, causing Rose to giggle. “Summer has been good so far. I’ve been getting ahead on reading for some classes. I expect that you’ve been doing the same?”

“Actually—” Rose started, but wasn’t able to finish since Scorpius had arrived.

“One butterbeer, just like you ordered,” Scorpius said, handing her the bottle. His hand lingered on the bottle a little longer than normal, causing their fingers to brush. She looked up at him and saw that he had an easy smile on his face and she wondered if she had imagined the stern look she saw just moments before. “Though I myself may have upgraded to Firewhiskey and apple juice.”

Rose shook her head, smiling brightly at him. “Yes, because that’s what you need is more alcohol. You’ll be drunk before you know it.”

“Rosie, I’m already drunk on you, I’m just trying to use alcohol to balance my brain out,” Scorpius said with a flirty grin. Rose felt her cheeks heat up, and looked down, trying to contain her smile.

She looked back up and saw Graham looking at her with a confused expression, realizing that she had completely forgotten that he was there.

“Graham, you know Scorpius, right?” Rose said, focusing on keeping her voice even. She gestured to Scorpius only to hit his chest, realizing that he was much closer than she had expected.

“Yeah,” Graham said, his voice flat. “Malfoy.”

“Taylor,” Scorpius said, tipping his drink toward Graham.

Rose shifted her weight, feeling nervous for some reason, causing her shoulder to bump into Scorpius’s chest. Instead of moving it, as she normally would have, she instead stayed, liking the warmth his body provided.

Graham noticed this, his eyes zeroing in on where her and Scorpius’s bodies touched and furrowed his eyebrows.

“So, since when do you two hang out together?” Graham asked, his tone casual but his eyes and body language suggesting that he felt anything but.

Scorpius smirked and took a drink. His hand brushed her lower back and he kept it there, not quite touching her, but almost.

“Scorpius and Al started hanging out together,” Rose said.

Graham nodded. “Right so naturally…. you guys started hanging out together.”

“Right on the mark,” Scorpius said as Rose nodded.

“And where is Al now?” Graham asked. “Can’t believe he’d leave you two on his own if he could help it.”

“He’s with a lady friend,” Scorpius said. “Can you believe that? What kind of bloke ditches his mates for a girl?”

“To be fair, it’s not like he sees her all the time,” Rose defended. “Now if she was still at school with us and he would have plenty of opportunity.”

“Still, the makings of a bad mate,” Scorpius said, finishing his drink.

“Ah yes, Malfoy. But I’m sure some of your friends would find you saying that hypocritical,” Graham said, nonchalantly. Rose looked at him questioningly but Graham avoided her eyes, keeping them on Scorpius.

Scorpius locked his jaw. “And what do you mean by that?”

“Just that I’ve heard your friends say similar things about you,” Graham said. “I believe one time in Potions, Zabini was pissed because you ditched his birthday to go shag Mila. But maybe I’m mistaken.”

Rose looked wide eyed at Graham, wondering what he was doing. Normally, Graham was the sweetest guy in the world and she was confused by the hostility he was showing towards Scorpius. When she saw Graham at the party she thought that maybe, he and Scorpius could be friends. But now she highly doubted it.

“Well,” Scorpius said, his voice even. “I’m trying to be better and surround myself with better people now.”

“Until Mila lets you back into her bed?”

Scorpius gritted his teeth. Rose looked up at him, seeing how upset he was but didn’t know what to do.

“I think I need another drink,” Scorpius muttered, and immediately moved away from her heading back into the house. Rose immediately felt cold without him there.

“Scorp,” Rose called out, but Scorpius didn’t turn around, instead walking straight in the house without looking back. Rose looked back at Graham, confused. “Graham, what the hell?”

Graham shrugged. “Could ask you the same question.”

“I’m not the one who just offended your friend,” Rose said. “Why did you do that? He’s trying to make more friends and you just attacked him for no reason.”

“Rose, do you honestly think he’s just interested in being your friend. Al, maybe, but you?” Graham scoffed, shaking his head. “And you’re just playing into it. I can tell you have feelings for him. Even though more than likely he’ll end up just going back to Mila and you’ll be heartbroken.”

“Graham, that’s not going to happen,” Rose argued back, although she herself wasn’t sure. She knew that he said he needed space and he seemed to want to break the pattern that he and Mila were in, but she never heard him say those words exactly. “And I’ll be fine even if it does because Scorpius and I are friends. That’s it.”

“Who are you trying to convince?” Graham asked her. “Me or yourself?”

Rose shook her head. “Why are you acting this way? If I didn’t know any better…”

“What?” Graham asked, suddenly getting defensive.

Rose sighed. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say that you almost sound jealous. Which doesn’t make sense since we’re friends.”

“Right,” Graham said, nodding and not quite meeting her eye. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m not going to,” Rose said. “Scorpius and I are friends. I can make new friends. I was even hoping you and him would be friends.”

Graham snorted. “Yeah, that’s going to happen.”

“Why not?” Rose asked.

“It’s just not,” Graham said quietly. “It’s getting late Rose; I think I’m going to head home.”

“Oh,” Rose said, frowning. “Okay. I guess I’ll go find Scorpius.”

Graham looked up at her, looking disappointed and Rose wondered if he had wanted her to ask him to stay or if he was just disappointed that she was going to find Scorpius. Or, and this was the most likely, it was both.

“Right,” Graham said. “Well bye, Rose.”

Graham walked away from her, not even waiting for her goodbye. He looked back before he left, but she was already pushing her way into the house, trying to find Scorpius.

* * *

“There you are,” Rose said, as she approached Scorpius sitting outside under a tree in the Potter backyard.

She had spent nearly an hour looking for him, during which was the time that the party started dying down. Now there was just a small group of people inside. As people started filling out, Rose had wondered if Scorpius had left and gone home. She had another thought when she stumbled on Lily snogging a Hufflepuff that sat near Rose in Transfiguration last year, that she supposed it was possible that Scorpius had met someone and potentially couldn’t be found because he was snogging her in a closet.

Rose didn’t like thinking of that option though.

Scorpius looked up at her with a grin. “Were you looking for me Weasley?”

“Yes, I was,” Rose said, sitting down next to him. “I wanted to make sure you were okay."

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Scorpius asked.

“Well, you seemed upset when we were talking to Graham,” Rose said carefully. “And then you disappeared.”

Scorpius shrugged. “Thought you and Taylor might have wanted some alone time. He didn’t seem too pleased to see me.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Rose said. “I don’t know why he acted that way and said those things.”

Scorpius laughed, shaking his head. “You have no idea why he acted that way? I felt it was obvious.”

“Well then please tell me,” Rose asked. “Because when I asked him, he didn’t say anything that gave me any clues as to why he would just outright treat out that way. That’s not who he is. He’s normally the nicest bloke—”

“Everyone is the nicest bloke until they realize the girl they fancy has feelings for someone else,” Scorpius said. “Especially when those feelings are mutual.”

Rose frowned, not understanding. “What?”

“Nothing,” Scorpius muttered. “Look, he seems like a fine bloke. I just think you don’t realize why he acted the way he did for a reason.”

“Well would you like to share that reason?” Rose asked.

“It’s not my place,” Scorpius said. “If he wanted you to know he would have told you.”

“Fine, keep your secrets,” Rose said, shrugging. “Are you sure you’re okay though? With everything he said about…about your friends and all?”

For some reason, Rose found it really hard to flat out ask him if he was okay with what was said about Mila and their relationship.

“I’m fine,” Scorpius said. “As much as I hate to admit it, he wasn’t wrong.”

Rose deflated but tried not to let Scorpius noticed. “Oh. So, if Mila wanted to get back together you would?”

“No!” Scorpius said. “No, I don’t mean that he was wrong about that. I mean he wasn’t wrong that I’ve been a bad friend because of her. That situation he mentioned with Zabini wasn’t wrong.”

“Oh,” Rose said looking down at the ground. She had assumed, of course, that Scorpius and Mila were intimate, but getting confirmation of it caused a wave of insecurity come over it.

Scorpius looked over at her, examining her face, before taking a sip of his drink.

“That’s kind of why I wanted space this summer from her and our friends,” Scorpius said. “I kept doing the same thing. I was a bad friend to them because of her, not that they were the best friends to begin with, and then she and I were so on and off that it probably wasn’t healthy.”

Rose nodded understandingly.

“I also just have stuff going on outside of them that is…heavy,” Scorpius said softly. “And I just realized that bad friends and a toxic relationship wasn’t really worth my time anymore.” Scorpius blinked quickly, almost as if he was trying to stop thinking about something. “Fortunately, Al reached out to me and has shown me what an actually good friendship is. Which has made some things easier.”

“I’m glad Al did that,” Rose said softly as she looked at him, feeling like she was confessing something to him. He looked over at her his eyes soft and smiled gently.

“Me too,” Scorpius whispered. “If only because I’ve gotten to know you.”

Rose couldn’t help but smile at him, a pink tint coming over her cheeks. Scorpius’s eyes wondered down to her lips before quickly moving back up her face. Despite herself, Rose glanced down at his lips.

“We should probably get in,” Rose whispered breathlessly. Scorpius nodded but neither one of them made an effort to move from their hiding spot.

Rose and Scorpius stared at each other; both of their eyes filled with longing as they looked at the other. Rose wondered what he was thinking and if, maybe, he was thinking the same thing as her. He slowly reached out, brushing her hair behind her ear, but instead of taking his hand back, it found her cheek, cupping her face as if she was the most delicate thing in the world.

Rose sighed softly and leaned into his hand. She looked up at him, hope bubbling in her stomach as to what could be happening.

Scorpius, ever so slowly, started leaning towards her and Rose met him in the middle. The second their lips touched, Rose felt huge euphoria rush over and, even though she had wanted this for weeks, knew that she already wanted more.

Scorpius must have felt the same because he reached over, wrapping his hands around her waist, pulling her closer. Rose wrapped her arms around her shoulders, pushing into him, trying to get as close to him as would allow. She just knew that she wanted more of him, more of this, _more_.

“Rose? Scorp? Are you guys out there?”

They broke apart at the sound of Al’s voice calling them from the other side of the tree, both of them instantly jumping apart from one another. Rose, who felt as though she was in shock, couldn’t speak, but fortunately Scorpius found his voice.

“Yeah,” Scorpius said, his eyes never leaving Rose’s face. “Yeah we’re just about to come in.”

Rose stood up, about to walk inside when Scorpius grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back. She thought (hoped) that he was going to snog her again, but instead, he reached for her hair, pulling out a leaf.

He held it up awkwardly and looked like he was going to say something before Al came around the tree.

“Come on, James is wanting to play Never Have I Ever and insists that everyone plays,” Al said. “I tried to convince him to play something else, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Scorpius laughed slightly. “He is too nosy for his own good.”

Al looked down at Rose. “Are you okay Rose? You seem frazzled.”

“I, um,” Rose said, trying to will her heart to stop racing. “I’m actually going to go home. I don’t feel well.”

“Did you drink too much?” Al asked, concerned.

“No, I think it’s just carbonation from the butterbeer,” Rose said. “I, um, I’m just going to go home.”

“Do you want one of us to walk you?” Scorpius asked her.

Although she would have very much liked Scorpius to walk her home so that she could restart what they had just been doing, she knew that wouldn’t be smart.

“No,” Rose said, her voice high as she tried to force the image of Scorpius snogging her against her front door out of her mind. “No, I just…I’ll go myself. Night.”

Rose walked towards her house quickly, not trusting herself to look back at Scorpius and ignoring Al’s calls asking if she was sure she was alright. Once she got to the back door of the house, she looked over at the backyard where Scorpius and Al were talking before Albus burst out laughing, punching Scorpius in the arm. They started heading inside but not before Scorpius looked over and made eye contact with her one last time.

He sent her a knee weakening smile before turning back to Al and going inside the house.

Once they were inside, Rose unlocked the door and went up to her room, falling onto her bed. She turned onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. Her lips were still tingling from Scorpius’s kiss and she still felt so high off it. She looked at her clock and saw that it said _1:43, August 1 st_.

She looked up at her ceiling and thought that snogging Scorpius Malfoy was not a bad way to start August. She could only hope, that like her, he was left craving more.


	2. august

_August_

Rose was sitting in the living room, reading her book when there was knock on the front door. She looked at the clock, wondering who would be coming by at 9 in the morning, before making her way over to the door, wand in hand. Rose peeked through the window and her heart burst at blond hair she saw on the other side of the door.

She took a deep breath before opening the door, unable to help the smile on her face.

“Hey,” she said, looking up at him.

Scorpius broke out into a nervous smile when he saw her.

“Hey,” he said. “Is Hugo still asleep?”

“Yeah,” Rose said.

Scorpius nodded. “Is there somewhere private we could talk? In case he wakes up.”

“Um, yeah we can talk in my room,” Rose said. She gestured him inside, shutting the door behind him before walking up the stairs to her room, Scorpius trailing after her.

As Rose walked up the steps, all the hope that she had since the night before started to leave her. She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he was here because he wanted to tell her that the night before was a mistake. She wonder if that’s why he was at her house so early; he didn’t want her thinking that it meant something when it didn’t.

Rose was trying to slyly take deep breaths when she opened the door to her room and closed it quietly behind Scorpius. Scorpius looked around her room and broke out into a grin when he saw the piles of books on her dresser that didn’t fit on her bookshelf.

“Ran out of bookshelf space?” Scorpius asked, turning towards her.

Rose nodded, her heart racing as he looked at her with smiling eyes, and trying to mentally prepare herself for when Scorpius would tell her that their kiss the night before had been a mistake and he wanted to go back to just being friends.

Although Rose felt very confused if that was how he treated all his friends. She knew that she couldn’t have been misread all of their interactions. There were times he was obviously flirting with her.

Right?

“So…” Scorpius said, wringing his hands together. “We should probably talk about what happened last night.”

“Yeah,” Rose said softly. “Because…that thing happened.”

“Yes, it did,” Scorpius replied. He looked at her inquisitively. “How do you feel about it?”

Amazing, still running on the high from it, dreamt about doing it again all night, were all things Rose could have said that would have been true.

“It was…nice,” Rose said. “Really nice.”

Scorpius smiled at her. “Yeah it was.”

Rose studied him, trying to gauge how he felt about it beyond the fact that it was nice. Trying to look for some clue as to how she should play this conversation. But as usual, she couldn’t tell.

“What did you think?” she asked.

“Well, we already established it as nice,” Scorpius said with a smirk in her direction. She couldn’t help the small smile that came on her face, causing his face to soften. “But it was also impulsive.”

Rose nodded, preparing herself for a letdown of when he said that it was a mistake. Rose figured that had to be what followed someone saying that kissing someone else was impulsive. It was never a good ending.

“And I would be lying if,” Scorpius said, stopping to take a deep breath.

Rose could tell he was nervous about what he was going to say. Which only confirmed her suspicions that he was going to say that it was a onetime thing and he was sorry for misleading her. He had always been so upfront when he was flirting with her that she can’t imagine why he would be nervous unless it was because he accidentally took something too far.

“I would be lying if,” Scorpius said again, his eyes not meeting hers. “I would be lying if I said that I hadn’t wanted to do that all summer long.”

Rose’s eyes snapped up at him and found that he was now looking at her, eyes intense. Rose’s heart was hammering in her chest.

“You have?” Rose asked quietly when she found her voice.

“Yeah,” Scorpius said just as softly. He took a small step towards her. “I wasn’t flirting with you just for fun. I…I like you, Rose.”

Rose smiled and stepped towards him. She reached out and gently took his hand in hers.

“I like you too,” Rose said. “More than I thought I would.”

Scorpius squeezed her hand. “So, what do you want this to mean?”

“I want, um,” Rose said, looking up at him. She wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted. But she did know one thing she did. “I want to kiss you again. And often.”

Scorpius smiled down at her, his other hand moving to her waist and moving closer to her.

“I think I can be okay with that,” Scorpius whispered before gently pressing his lips to hers.

Rose pushed her body into him, wrapping her hands around his shoulders. Scorpius responding, grabbing her waist and holding her close. He was gentle, his hold on her light, making it so that she could escape at any time, his lips never too pushy against her.

But Rose found that wasn’t enough for her. Just like the night before, she just wanted _more_ and found that she felt like she could never be close enough to him.

She pushed against him, tightening her grasp and adding more pressure to their kiss. Without even thinking her tongue started teasing Scorpius’s lips, asking for access.

Scorpius groaned and the gentle manner he had been keeping up before was lost. His hands ran down her body before he picked her up, his grasp firm on her thighs, and walked forward a few steps until Rose’s back hit the wall. He pushed against her and Rose had never felt more grateful for the feeling of being smushed before.

Rose wasn’t sure how long they had snogged like that. Rose would have been fine spending the rest of her days snogging Scorpius like that. Each time Scorpius squeezed her arse, she felt a huge electric boost come over and she could have gotten high on Scorpius’s deep groans when she moved against him. She felt as though they were in their own world.

A world that they were deported from as they heard Hugo start playing music down the hall. The hard Wizard Rock was enough to cause Rose to pull away, leaving her head against the wall to catch her breath. Scorpius’s eyes scanned her as he tried to catch his breath as well.

“I have never wanted to be an only child so much in my life,” Rose said softly.

Scorpius smirked before leaning in, giving her small kisses across her neck. Rose bit her lip, not wanting to make any noises that could make Hugo suspicious of what was happening in her room. She was sure Scorpius’s groans didn’t go unnoticed.

“Well maybe you should come to my place then,” Scorpius said, in between kisses. “Big house, no siblings…more than enough privacy to do this and talk and…figure out what this is.”

Scorpius pulled his face away from her neck and gently placed her feet on the ground.

“I can come over tomorrow?” Rose asked.

Scorpius nodded. “Sounds good.”

Rose got up onto her tip toes to give him a little kiss. “You should probably go. I think I hear the shower running so the coast is probably clear. That way Hugo won’t see you leave.”

Scorpius frowned slightly at her words, before replacing it with a neutral expression. Then, Scorpius kissed her again, pulling back before either of them could get to lost in it.

“Now is probably best, otherwise I’ll push you against the wall again and make up for the lost time of this whole summer,” Scorpius said with a smirk.

Rose sighed at the thought. “Trust me I want nothing more.”

Scorpius took a step back, adjusting his clothes to look less crumpled. And, Rose noticed, readjusting himself so that certain parts of his body didn’t give away exactly what was going on between them.

Rose looked away from him quickly, blushing slightly, before smoothing her hair. She walked over towards the door and opened it, walking out, Scorpius close behind. They were all set to walk down the stairs, when they heard a door open.

“Rose?” Hugo’s voice came from down the hall. Rose mentally cursed herself. “Malfoy?”

Both her and Scorpius turned towards Hugo, who was standing outside his room with a confused expression on his face. Then, after a second of looking at them, a look of understanding came over him.

“Ah,” Hugo said, nodding. Rose noticed that he was trying not to smirk. “Anyway, Lily wanted to know if we wanted to go to Diagon Alley today, Rosie. We would leave at noon. I’m planning on going but if you’re…” His eyes went over to Scorpius and he suddenly found himself unable to contain his smirk. “If your _busy_ I can cover for you.”

Rose’s face got hot and she snuck a glance at Scorpius. As expected, Scorpius looked calm, meaning he was either not catching the double meaning of Hugo’s words, or he didn’t really care.

“Um, no,” Rose said. “I can go.”

“Okay, I’ll let her know,” Hugo said. He looked back at Scorpius, smirk still on his face. “I get the feeling I’ll be seeing you around more, Malfoy, so, see you later.”

Scorpius nodded at Hugo and Hugo gave a small laugh one last time before walking back into his room. Rose noticed he didn’t close the door this time.

Rose walked down the stairs, Scorpius trailing behind her. She stopped in front of the door.

“I’ll talk to Hugo,” Rose said. “I’ll tell him not to tell anyone and—"

“Why don’t you want him to tell anyone?” Scorpius asked, looking at her confused.

“I just- this is all so new,” Rose said quietly. She felt the anxiety in her belly. “And we haven’t even talked about what this is. I don’t want anyone else involved right now.”

Scorpius nodding. “Okay. Let’s talk more about it tomorrow. I’ll owl you my address so you can Apparate over there.”

Rose looked up at him with a grateful smile. Scorpius smiled back, looking up towards Hugo’s room, before kissing her, quickly. Rose held onto him, keeping him close and Scorpius rested his forehead against hers.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Weasley,” Scorpius whispered.

“See you tomorrow,” Rose whispered back.

Rose took a deep breath before removing her forehead from his and opening the door. Scorpius walked out, sneaking another kiss to her forehead as he passed, walking past the Apparation line before disappearing completely.

Rose shut the door, turning around and jumping at the sight of Hugo on the bottom stair, smirking at her.

“So, you and Malfoy?” Hugo asked.

“Hugo, nothing’s going on,” Rose said, moving into the kitchen.

“Right that’s why I was awoken to groans and sighs,” Hugo said, causing Rose to blush. “Not to mention the obvious giveaway of Scorpius’s pants after you guys walked out of his room.”

“Hugo!” Rose said, shocked he would mention such a thing. Hugo put his hands up.

“Look, I’m just saying be more careful if you want to be a secret!” Hugo said.

Rose shook her head, looking away from him and grabbing a new cup of coffee. She wasn’t sure if she wanted it to be a secret at all. She wasn’t sure what she wanted. She just knew she wanted to keep kissing Scorpius.

“Rosie, whatever is going on between you guys, I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” Hugo said. “I’ve gotten to know him this summer and I think…I think you guys could be good together.”

Rose bit her lip, keeping her eyes on the coffee in the cup in front of her.

“I’m more than happy to keep it quiet for you and cover for you when you need,” Hugo said. “Just do me one thing okay?”

Rose looked at him then. “What?”

“Just make sure your honest with yourself and him about what you want,” Hugo said. “I know everyone in the world knows about him and Mila and I’m sure if people found out about you two, they’d warn you against him but I think that you two could work if you both tried. But you have to be honest with him about what you want.”

Rose nodded, understanding. Hugo went and jumped into the shower so that he’d be ready to go to Diagon Ally in a few hours. Rose knew that she too, probably should start on her chores she wanted done before they left, but found herself wondering what exactly she did want with Scorpius instead.

* * *

“So, this is my room,” Scorpius said, opening the door and closing it behind her.

“Wow,” Rose said softly as she entered the giant room. Rose noticed the green accents throughout the room as she walked in, sitting on the green bedspread. “Your room is beautiful.”

“It’s nothing compared to the rest of the house,” Scorpius said, shrugging. He appeared uncomfortable. “A little big. Like the rest of the house.”

Rose nodded. “Is green your favorite color or did your parents do this when you got into Slytherin?”

“Green has been my favorite color since I was little,” Scorpius said. He took a few steps towards his dresser, fidgeting with some stuff there. “Probably part of the reason why I wanted to be in Slytherin in the first place.”

Rose smiled at him. “That’s cute.”

Scorpius smiled, continuing to move things around on his dresser, not looking at her.

“Are you okay?” Rose asked. “Do you not want me here?”

“No, it’s not that,” Scorpius said, meeting her eyes. He had a snitch in hand that he kept running his fingers over “Just…nervous. We said we were going to talk about what this was. And I want to hear what you wanted this to be.”

“Okay,” Rose said. “Are you going to come closer.”

Scorpius shook his head. “I don’t trust myself to come closer currently. Might distract myself from our conversation.”

Rose giggled. She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or just flirting.

“So, what do you want this to be?” Scorpius asked. His face was impassive, but Rose could see the nerves in his eyes.

Despite herself, she liked that he was nervous about what she would say.

“I…I’m not exactly sure,” Rose said. “I don’t have a lot of experience in this department. I just know that I want to keep getting to know you and kissing you. I don’t want to worry about labels and expectations.”

Scorpius nodded. “I want that too.”

“And I’m not sure I want people to know,” Rose said, biting her lip. “Not while we figure things out. For all we know, this could fizzle out or we could find that we aren’t compatible or something else. I would like to figure out this stuff first, such as if it could last longer than a few weeks before we get our families involved.”

“Not a bad idea, considering who our families are,” Scorpius said in agreement. “I’m sure your family would pester you with lots of questions if they knew what had even happened the past few days.”

“So…we keep doing whatever we’ve been doing with no labels or expectations,” Rose said. “And we keep it a secret?”

Scorpius nodded but Rose couldn’t help but feel like he was disappointed in one part of her answer though she wasn’t sure which.

“Are you going to come over here now?” Rose said, wanting to be close to him.

“Well, since we got the conversation out of the way, I feel like I can,” Scorpius said, dropping the snitch on the dresser before coming over and tackling her on the bed. He kissed her, pressing his body onto her, before rolling beside her. Rose turned on her side to face him.

“You’re okay with everything I said?” Rose asked him again.

“Yeah,” Scorpius said, no flashes of disappointment that Rose thought she saw earlier. “As long as I get to keep being around you, I’m okay with it.”

Rose smiled leaning in to kiss him, looking forward to the promise of more.

* * *

“Hey have you heard from Scorpius this past week?”

Rose looked up at Al from her book. They were outside, trying to soak up the sun.

In truth, Rose had heard from Scorpius. Since that first day at his house, she had been at his house every single day for hours at a time. She and Scorpius spent that time getting to know one another. He had started reading her his favorite book and they spent a lot of time playing exploding snap after realizing how competitive the other was when they played.

They had also shared stories of their childhood, Rose asking Scorpius what it was like to be an only child in this huge house, while Scorpius asked her about growing up with so many cousins. At first, Rose envied Scorpius’s lack of siblings and family, thinking he must have a lot of time of peace and to do his own thing, but he said it wasn’t like that.

“It’s actually pretty lonely,” Scorpius said softly one night as they lay in his bed. “I didn’t know many other kids until Hogwarts. Dad was working a lot, either at the Ministry or the foundation, trying to condone for his sins in the war and make the Malfoy name something positive. Mum was great she would play with me a lot, but then…”

Rose ran a hand along his chest. Rose knew that something was going on with his mother, but Scorpius hadn’t shared what. She hadn’t wanted to push him, because every time his mum came up, his demeanor would change entirely and he would quickly change the subject.

Scorpius’s hand came up, grabbing her hand and bringing it to his lips for a kiss before putting it back on his chest, his hand over it, squeezing her hand lightly. Rose smiled softly at the gentle gesture.

“Mum would play with me a lot until she couldn’t,” Scorpius said softly. “Of course, she had other responsibilities though that often got in the way. She always is trying to help Dad restore the Malfoy reputation by volunteering on committees for the hospital and other things. So, I would have to do a lot on my own as a kid and during summers.”

“You didn’t spend time with your friends from Hogwarts during summer?” Rose asked.

“Not really,” Scorpius said. “I told you that my friends and I aren’t always the best to each other. And then when I started dating Mila, I treated them really crappy. And she and I were so off and on that it didn’t always guarantee someone to hang out with.”

“Sounds lonely,” Rose said quietly. “To have people so close to you that you don’t even hang out with because you all aren’t the best to each other.”

“It is,” Scorpius said softly. “It’s why I was always jealous of you in that manner. All these family members and you guys were together all the time. You had Layla too and you two seemed like good mates. Just wondered how someone could get so lucky in that sense.”

Rose moved closer to Scorpius, wrapping her arms around him and putting her head on his chest. She could tell that this was hard for Scorpius to talk about and Rose wondered if Scorpius had ever talked about this to anyone. She couldn’t imagine the burden the constant loneliness would have on a person.

Scorpius wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. She felt him kiss her hair.

“This is the first summer I haven’t felt lonely,” Scorpius whispered to her, which caused Rose to smile softly.

Back in the present day, Rose looked at Albus.

“Why would I hear from Scorpius?” she asked, keeping her voice even.

“I don’t know,” Albus said, shrugging. “You guys are friends. He hasn’t dropped by as much since James’s party, so it just had me wondering.”

Rose nodded. Of course, she knew why he wasn’t dropping by. They had agreed that his house was safer. They could be in his room for hours and no one would come look. She was so wrapped up in the euphoria of exploring this thing she had with Scorpius she completely forgot that he and Al were friends too.

“Well speak of the devil,” Al said, looking towards the back door.

Rose looked over and saw Scorpius walking out, thanking Ginny for letting him in. Rose held back the smile that came to her face at the sight of him.

“Well, good to see you’re not dead!” Al said when Scorpius sat down next to them.

“And why would you think I was dead?” Scorpius asked with a grin. He sent a smile Rose’s way and Rose smiled back. She wanted so badly to kiss him.

“Well you dropped off the face of the earth after James’s party,” Al said. “Didn’t even say why. You had me worried you had gotten back together with Mila.”

Rose bit her lip, dropping her eyes.

“Trust me mate, that’s not going to happen,” Scorpius said and Rose felt his eyes glance over to her.

Rose pretended to read her book while Albus and Scorpius talked about Quidditch, being too distracted by Scorpius’s knee against hers to comprehend what was happening in her story.

Later that night, she got a letter delivered to her room from an owl she had learned to recognized as Scorpius’s owl. In it, was a short note, written in Scorpius’s handwriting.

_You looked so pretty reading your book today._ _-Scorp_

* * *

“Oh, Scorpius, I didn’t know you had a guest.”

Scorpius had just let Rose in the front door and was holding her hand, as both of them were about to head to his room, when a woman called out to them from the sitting room, off of the hallway towards Scorpius’s room.

“Mum,” Scorpius said. He let go of Rose’s hand and walked over to the woman sitting in the chair by the window. “Should you be moving around? I thought the Healer said you needed to stay in your room?”

Rose stood in the hallway, watching as Scorpius approached his mother with intense concern on his face.

His mother looked at him. “Scorpius, you heard the Healer say I can move around as long I have plenty of rest. Your father helped me in here earlier today and is working from home today in case I need more help. The House Elves are also aware I’m out of bed and ready to bring me what I need.”

“Mum, you need to be careful,” Scorpius said. “You can’t overexert yourself—"

“Sitting in a different room is not overdoing myself,” his mum said sternly. “You and your father both need to learn that I take this just as seriously, if not more than you both. However, I will not be held in my room like a prisoner.”

“Alright,” Scorpius said.

“As I mentioned, your father is just in his study,” she said, motioning to a door off of the sitting room. “I have never felt saver to move around.”

Scorpius nodded. “If you’re sure.”

“I am,” Mrs. Malfoy said. She reached out and grabbed Scorpius’s hand. “I was hoping to spend some time with my dear son today, time outside of my bedroom, but I see you have company currently.”

Mrs. Malfoy’s eyes returned to Rose. Rose immediately stood up straighter and cursed herself for not dressing nicer. Jean shorts and a Chudley Cannons tee weren’t exactly the things she wanted to meet Scorpius’s mother in.

“Scorpius aren’t you going to introduce your beautiful friend to your sick mother?” Mrs. Malfoy said, smirking up at Scorpius. Scorpius looked down at her, clearly not thinking her joke was funny.

Rose’s eyes however immediately snapped to Scorpius. So that was the secret with his mother. That was the heavy stuff he had mentioned at the start of summer.

His mother was sick. And, most likely if she was being told to be on best rest, his mother was dying.

Scorpius avoided her eyes. “Mum, this is Rose, Rose, this is my mother, Astoria Malfoy.”

“Oh, please come in,” Astoria said, waving Rose in. “I’d come to you, but I’m afraid I need to be resting most days.”

Rose walked closer, extending a hand out to Astoria. “Rose Weasley. It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Malfoy.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you as well,” Astoria said, with a genuine smile. “I have admired your mother’s work for Elfish protection for years.”

“Do you know her?” Rose asked, sitting in the chair across from her. Hearing people admit their admiration for one or both her parents was nothing new to Rose.

“No, I don’t,” Astoria said. “My husband does though. But I don’t want to discuss your parents. I’m sure you get that a lot. Tell me about you. Are you at Hogwarts?”

“Ravenclaw,” Rose said. Her eyes glanced at Scorpius, standing by his mother’s chair, studying her interaction with his mother. “My cousin Albus is in Slytherin though.”

“Oh Albus, what a sweet boy,” Astoria said. She patted Scorpius’s hand. “I am very grateful that Scorpius and Albus became close. It’s been so nice seeing my boy happy with friends again.”

“Mum,” Scorpius said, embarrassment apparent in his voice.

“Well you were unhappy,” Astoria said. “And now Albus has not only brought a healthy friendship into your life, but also this lovely girl.”

Rose blushed and looked down.

What was supposed to be a few minutes conversation ended up being an hours long tea. Astoria asked Rose all sorts of questions wanting to know everything about her. Rose felt that talking to Astoria was easy and she realized why; she and Scorpius were very similar. The easy going, teasing way they spoke, the constant smirks, it was clear that Scorpius was similar to his mother in a lot of ways.

It was also clear how much Scorpius loved his mother. The whole tea, he sat right next to her, sitting on an ottoman instead of a chair, holding her hand. Every time his mother would make a face as if she were uncomfortable, he would immediately attend to her, making sure that she was alright.

Rose couldn’t help but feel her heart soften as she watched Scorpius with his mum. And she couldn’t help but add it to the long list of reasons she liked him so much.

Eventually, they had to leave, Astoria saying that she was tired and needed to rest. She told Rose how lovely it was to meet her before asking for a moment with Scorpius alone. Rose walked out the door and leaned against the wall, trying hard not to listen to their conversation.

“I like this girl Scorpius,” Astoria said.

“Me too,” Scorpius said and Rose could have sworn she heard the smile in his voice.

* * *

Later that day, they lay on Scorpius’s bed, all the covers thrown off from an intense snog (and then some) session an hour earlier. Rose lay next to Scorpius, her fingers tracing patterns on his bare chest.

She had come to love these moments of quiet with him. Where they weren’t doing anything, just being together listening to the other breath, often cuddling or touching each other in a way that wasn’t about physical desire but just to touch the other. She placed a small kiss on his shoulder and he looked down at her with a smile.

“I don’t think I’ve seen my mum as happy in a long time as she was talking to you today,” Scorpius said softly.

“Well, it sounds like she doesn’t get to talk to a lot of people besides you and your dad,” Rose said. “I’m sure she was just grateful for a different face.”

“I’m sure that’s a part of it,” Scorpius said.

“What is she sick with?” Rose asked before she could stop herself. Although Scorpius had been so welcoming of her curiosity, answering nearly any question she asked him, she knew that this was a topic he appeared to want to avoid.

“Cancer,” Scorpius said softly. “I thought that magic would help but I guess cancer is still a great mystery to Wizards, just like Muggles.”

“I’m sorry, Scorpius,” Rose said, kissing his shoulder. Scorpius kept his eyes up, staring at the ceiling.

“She had it before,” Scorpius said. “When I was in second year. She beat it and I thought she would be fine. But then it just came back in April of this year and it came back worse from before. My mum—"

He took a deep breath, composing himself from what he was going to say. Rose saw him scrunch his face, almost like he was trying to stop himself from crying.

“My mum doesn’t think she’ll make it this time,” Scorpius said quietly. “Said she doesn’t know if she has the fight anymore.”

Rose squeezed Scorpius, settling herself closer to him and letting him talk.

“When she told me, I nearly passed out. I can’t imagine my life without her,” Scorpius said. “I didn’t really know how to handle it.”

“Is this why you distanced yourself from your friends?”

Scorpius nodded. “And why I broke up with Mila. I didn’t want to deal with the drama anymore knowing my mum was dying. Didn’t seem worth it.”

A moment of silence fell over them and Rose looked out the window near Scorpius’s bed, watching the sun go down as she listened to his heartbeat.

“I wanted you to meet her,” Scorpius said, rubbing his hand against her back. “I didn’t mean this way or even had a plan but I knew she would like you. She never liked Mila and she told me her hope was to have me find someone who made her as happy as my dad makes her.”

Rose smiled. “And you think that’s me?”

Scorpius’s eyes met hers.

“Yeah I do,” he said. “This house has been a place where I felt alone and sad for most of my life. When you’re here, you bring make this place better. You make it what it used to be for me when my mum was okay.” Scorpius took a deep breath and nervousness filled his eyes. “When you’re here, it just feels like maybe things will be okay even if she’s gone.”

Rose felt herself flush and tore her eyes away from him.

“I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” Rose whispered.

Scorpius moved his arms then, cupping her face and bringing it to look at his. His eyes were intense as they bore into hers.

“I really like you,” Scorpius whispered. “A lot more than I thought I would this quickly.”

“I really like you too,” Rose whispered back.

Scorpius leaned forward, kissing her and turning them so that Rose’s back was against the sheet and Scorpius was above her. Rose ran her arms against his chest, grateful that she had already removed his shirt earlier.

Her shirt did not stay on long after, Scorpius taking his kisses from her neck to even lower.

No matter how far they went, Rose always craved more. When their kisses turned into groping, she wanted more, when they started removing clothes, she wanted more. Nothing seemed like enough and even now, as he pushed her shorts down and let his fingers explore, all Rose could crave was _more_.

“Scorpius,” Rose whined as he sucked on her neck. She grabbed his face and looked at him in the eyes. “I want you.”

“What?” Scorpius asked, confused. His eyes looked dazed as if he had been getting high of her skin.

“I want you,” Rose said breathlessly. “All of you.”

“Are you sure?” Scorpius whispered. He had been excellent about moving at her pace, telling her to let him know when she wanted to stop and asking each time before he pushed a new boundary. But one boundary he had never tried to push. And now, she was asking for it.

“Yes,” Rose said.

Scorpius kissed her intensely and before long, they had both lost the remaining clothing and Rose experienced a whole new high that Scorpius could give her.

* * *

“So why don’t you want to go to Graham’s house?” Layla asked, frowning at Rose as they sat in her room.

Layla had come over to hang out before they were supposed to go to Graham’s house to hang out with all of their friends. This had been something that Rose had looked forward to most of summer, but since August had started, had completely forgotten about it.

The fact that she hadn’t seen or heard from Graham since his odd behavior at James’s party didn’t help either.

“I just don’t feel like going to hang out with a bunch of people right now,” Rose said from where she sat in her window nook. A window nook that conveniently looked out to the Potter house so she could see whenever someone dropped by.

And where it was very easy to open and grab a letter that may have been sent to her.

Layla frowned. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Malfoy does it?”

“Why would it?” Rose asked, though she felt herself flushing.

“Graham said you and him were acting…strange at James’s party,” Layla said. “And I remember what I saw on game night. Is there something you need to tell me?”

Rose wanted so badly to tell Layla everything. How Scorpius made her feel special, how she was falling so hard for him, how things had escalated between the two of them only days prior.

But she didn’t, for two reasons.

One, Layla had already warned her against him. Rose knew that if she told Layla everything between her and Scorpius, Layla would repeat those words to her and try to discourage her from continuing to pursue a relationship with him.

And two, Rose just wasn’t ready to. She had loved the way things were going with her and Scorpius; they felt as though they were in their own world. There were no pressures from the outside world to be anything but themselves. She knew as soon as they went public, their relationship would probably change and she was scared that it wouldn’t be for the better.

Rose didn’t want people’s judgements and watchful eyes. She didn’t want the press to turn them into some star-crossed lover situation. She didn’t want to deal with telling her parents about him. She didn’t want to hear Layla and Graham tell her to stay away from him.

She didn’t want to hear what his friends would say when they knew he was dating the girl they said would marry a book before she married a bloke.

“No,” Rose said, looking out the window.

Based on the tension in the room, Rose was pretty sure they both knew that she was lying. She heard Layla sigh.

“I want you to be happy Rosie,” Layla said. “No matter who it is with. Even if I think it’s a bad decision. And you don’t have to tell me anything, but I wanted you to know that. You deserve happiness. Okay?”

Rose looked over at Layla, feeling very grateful for her best friend.

“Okay,” Rose said, knowing, that when she was ready to tell people, Layla would be the first to know.

* * *

Despite the fact that Rose had seen him without a shirt on multiple times, Rose couldn’t help but stare as Scorpius stripped off his shirt and sat down on the towel next to her.

“So, you waited until we only had a week and a half to go back to school to tell me that your family had a lake in your backyard?” Rose asked him as she laid on her back. “That seems incredibly unfair given how hot this summer has been.”

Scorpius flipped onto his stomach, his hair in his eyes. Rose pushed his hair back before moving her hand to trace her name on his back.

“I just wanted to make sure you were coming over for me and not the lake,” Scorpius said with a smirk.

“Turd,” Rose said, tracing her name for a third time on his back. “Now I have so little time to enjoy it before we go back to school.”

“Hmm,” Scorpius said, laying his head on his hands and closing his eyes. “Your hand feels nice.”

Rose kept writing her name on his back, almost wishing she could literally do so. As the school year kept getting closer, Rose couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like at school.

His house had become a safe haven for them this summer. Where they could do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. There was rarely anyone around, although they had taken to having tea with his mother a few times a week. Although her parents were at work most days and Hugo knew about them (and covered for her when someone asked where she was), she felt safer at his house. It was their own little escape from the rest of the world. She liked getting Scorpius all to herself, not worrying about what others thought.

She was nervous for what would happen when they got to Hogwarts. She knew that she should have brought it up with him, asked him how things would change, if he wanted them to. Ask if they were going to become a real couple once they got to school or keep sneaking around.

But Rose didn’t. Instead, she just kept writing her name on his back.

There were things he had said that made her hopeful of what would happen at Hogwarts. He had mentioned places he had wanted to bring her in Hogsmeade and talked about how she had to come to his Quidditch games and he’d give her a Slytherin scarf to wear at them. He had said things to give her hope that he was, like her, moving in the direction of a relationship.

The hope of it all kept her going. Imagining her and Scorpius walking through the corridors hand in hand, nestled together studying in the library, snogging in alcoves, all the things that she had seen other couples do, she felt so hopeful that she and Scorpius would be doing it.

She knew she should have brought it up, but she wanted to keep things in their bubble for as long as possible.

“What are you thinking about?” Scorpius asked her, his eyes staring at her curiously.

“You,” Rose said, causing Scorpius to smile.

“That’s sweet,” Scorpius said. She saw his mischievous smile start to creep in. “I’m thinking about how much I want to throw you in the lake for complaining about not telling you about it earlier.”

Rose sat up. “Don’t you dare, Scorpius.”

Scorpius reached out, trying to grab her, but she jumped to her feet. She started running into the water, hearing Scorpius close behind her.

“Gotcha!” Scorpius said, tackling her into the water, causing both of them to topple in.

Rose pulled her head up from under the water and looked over at Scorpius, who was sitting a few feet away, grinning at her.

“You’re so annoying,” she said, splashing him. She felt his arms come around her waist, pulling her on top of where Scorpius sat in the water so she was straddling him.

“Yeah,” Scorpius said. “But you chose me.”

Rose shook her head, unable to stop herself from laughing, before kissing him.

* * *

“Alright let’s do a list check,” Rose said, holding Hugo’s book list for school in front of her.

“Rose, you know you don’t have to do the triple check mum normally makes us do right?” Hugo said.

“You know that has saved us in the past,” Rose said. “Mum and Dad are trusting us to get this done since they are both busy at work. Do you want to hear about it if we forget a book?”

Hugo sighed. “I guess not.”

Rose read off the books and waited for Hugo to say “check” after each one before moving on.

Unlike past years, Rose and Hugo were doing their own shopping at Diagon Alley for Hogwarts that year. Normally, their Mum or Dad took them, but with their mum working as Minister of Magic and Weasley’s Wizard Wheeze launching four new product lines, neither of them were able to. So, much to Hermione’s reluctance, Rose and Hugo were entrusted to get everything they needed for school, since the Hogwarts express left in five days and they still didn’t have supplies.

Rose paid for both of their books using the money her mum had given her.

“I need to get new robes,” Hugo said.

“Okay, we can stop there next,” Rose said, putting the change into her purse.

“For some reason I feel like you’ll want to do something else, Rosie,” Hugo said, smirking at her before nodding towards something.

Rose looked over and saw Scorpius, reading the back of a book and couldn’t help but smile. She was so used to seeing him in such a scheduled way; him sending a letter or have already discussing it, that seeing him spontaneously like this caused her heart to burst.

“Why don’t I go get new robes and you go see your friend and we meet at the Leaky Cauldron when we’re both done?” Hugo asked.

Rose shot a thankful grin at him. “You’re the best, Hugh.”

“See you in two hours?” Hugo asked and Rose nodded. Hugo walked out with a wave and Rose walked slowly towards Scorpius.

“You know, I’ve always thought that someone’s choice of books said a lot about their personality,” Rose said, causing Scorpius to jump slightly at her voice.

“Merlin Rose,” Scorpius said. “You could give a man a heart attack.”

“Shopping for school?” Rose asked.

“No,” Scorpius said. “Just looking for some books to read.”

“Ah, let’s see what this one says about your personality,” Rose said, grabbing the book out of his hand. Scorpius started to protest, but Rose ignored him. “ _Losing Them When You’re Gone: Coping with Death from Afar.”_ Rose immediately gulped, feeling guilty. “Oh, Scorp—"

“Don’t,” Scorpius said gruffly, grabbing the book and pushing it back into the shelf. It was then that Rose realized he was in the grief section and she wished that she had never walked over to him in the first place.

“Is everything okay?” Rose asked.

Scorpius shrugged. “Nothing’s changed if that’s what you’re asking. I’m just…preparing.”

Rose wanted to hold him, comfort him and tell him nothing would happen, but she knew that she couldn’t promise him that. Instead, she reached forward, intertwining her fingers with his and squeezing his hand.

He squeezed hers back and Rose couldn’t help but feel giddy that they were holding hands in public. After nearly a month of keeping distance whenever people were around, Rose felt excited to be doing some sort of PDA, no matter how small, in public.

Scorpius looked around the store then, and began pulling Rose down the row of shelves until they reached the end, giving them privacy. He positioned her against the shelves, cupping her face as he kissed her.

“I missed you,” Scorpius said softly.

“You saw me yesterday,” Rose said between kisses. Her thoughts wondered to the day before, of her laying in Scorpius’s arms while he read her a book, playing exploding snap, and kissing him and all that came after the kissing. She felt her body start to warm as Scorpius kept kissing her, that familiar feeling of tingling and want starting in stomach.

She kissed him one more time before pushing him away slightly. Scorpius made a noise of protest.

“I need you to stop kissing me,” Rose said. “Or else I’m going to have a hard time controlling myself from you.”

Scorpius nodded, stealing one last kiss from her. “You’re probably right. I was about a minute away from asking you to get a room a Leaky with me.”

Rose let out a little laugh at his joking tone. Slowly, Scorpius started kissing her neck.

“You’re so beautiful,” Scorpius whispered between kisses. “I’m going to fail all my classes this year because I’ll want to snog you in every single one.”

Rose hummed. “That won’t help anyone’s education.”

“No,” Scorpius said, his lips brushing her ear. “It won’t. Guess the Restricted Section will have to do.”

“People don’t snog there,” Rose said.

Scorpius pulled away, looking at her with an amused look.

“Weasley, I hate to break it to you, but people snog all over the castle, in some places you wouldn’t even think of,” Scorpius said. He kissed her lips again. “And I can’t wait to show you all of them.”

Although Rose knew she should have pointed out that they were in a bookshop and suggest somewhere more private to snog, Scorpius saying that did her in and she pressed her lips to his.

She couldn’t wait for Hogwarts. She was more hopeful that ever about what it had in store for her and Scorpius.

* * *

After many minutes of snogging in the back of the bookshop, Rose and Scorpius finally made their way out of the shop. They were walking down Diagon Alley when Rose stopped to look at the window of pets.

“Do you want one?” Scorpius asked, standing close to her. He leaned down to her ear, his lips pressing a quick kiss there before he stood again.

“I just like looking at them,” Rose said. “I’m allergic to cats so I can’t get one. Which is a shame, because I love them. My mum said that I would follow Crookshanks around sneezing when I was little because I wanted to hang out with him. Unfortunately, the dander gives me asthma so I will live a cat-less life forever.”

“If you could get one of these cats,” Scorpius said, leaning close to her to look in the window. She didn’t miss how his hands came to rest on her waist and pull her back closer to his chest. “Which one would you get?”

“Hmmm,” Rose said, looking at the cats. “That gray one is awfully cute.”

“Yes, it is,” Scorpius said. He looked in the window again, kissing her shoulder. “You wouldn’t want a ginger cat? To match your hair?”

Rose, who’s heart was hammering in her chest from all of Scorpius’s little kisses and how he was holding her against him, in public no less, looked up at him. “Are you thinking of buying me a cat?”

Scorpius looked down at her with a smile. “No. Just curious is there ever was some magical way you could have a cat, what kind it would be. Because if I could find you cat like that, you can bet I would buy it for you.”

Rose let out a little breath. “You’re something else you know that?”

Scorpius opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t get the chance to. Instead they both heard someone shouting Scorpius’s name. Scorpius looked up and his eyes widened, immediately removing his hands from her waist and taking a step back from her.

Rose frowned and looked up at who Scorpius was looking at and almost groaned at who she saw.

Because coming towards them was Declan Zabini, Scorpius’s friend from school, followed closely by his girlfriend Erica Smith and Jordan Freeman, another Slytherin in Scorp’s year.

“Scorp, hey!” Declan said, big smile on his face. He pulled Scorpius into a hug. “I’ve missed you, mate! How’s your summer been?”

“Fine,” Scorpius said. Rose could tell that he felt nervous and a part of her wondered if she should have wondered off while she had the chance. “You?”

“Pretty good,” Declan said. “Erica and I have been doing a lot with her family, which has been a nice change of pace.”

“Mila said you haven’t written her back,” Erica said, her gaze fierce on Scorpius.

Rose remembered that while Mila had lots of friends, Erica and her seemed the closest. Rose immediately felt uncomfortable at the mention of Mila’s name and could tell Scorpius felt the same.

“Erica, don’t do this—” Declan started, but Erica cut him off, defending her friend obviously more important to her than respecting her boyfriend’s wishes.

“She’s written you all summer,” Erica said, her tone biting. Rose looked at Scorpius, feeling hurt that he hadn’t mentioned this before while Scorpius avoided her eyes. “The least you could is write her one letter back.”

“I’ve been busy,” Scorpius muttered.

“Obviously you have,” Jordan said. That was when Rose noticed that Jordan’s eyes were on her and Scorpius noticed too. Rose saw his fist clench as Jordan gave her a once over. “Weasley, I must say I’m surprised to see you outside. I thought you stayed inside and did all the years reading during the summer?”

Rose felt her face flush.

“Jordan,” Scorpius said, a warning tone in his voice. “Don’t.”

“What?” Jordan asked. “I’m just saying, I’ve never seen Weasley here without a book. It must have taken something very interesting to pull your attention away from your studies.” Jordan’s eyes slid to Scorpius. “Malfoy did you decide to throw a bone Weasley’s way to show her how a man can be more satisfying than a book?”

Erica made a sound of disgust at Jordan’s comment, glaring at him.

Rose bit her lip, feeling on the verge of tears for some reason. Jordan’s words were almost like a bucket of water were thrown on her. She had spent the last summer in such a daze, high almost, completely full of hope and Scorpius and now she felt like she was facing the truth of what would happen if they were ever together.

“You’re an arse, Freeman. More than likely they just ran into each other,” Erica said. Rose looked up, feeling shocked that Erica, instead of piling on like Rose was used to, was instead defending her, sort of. “There’s no need to be crude when we all know that Scorpius would never see Weasley like that.”

Scorpius scoffed and Rose could tell he was getting angry, but Declan kept his hand on Scorp’s shoulder, sending him a look to calm down. She could tell he was confused why Scorpius would be responding this way before he glanced at her and then Scorpius, who was still clenched up and appeared like he was putting the pieces together in his head.

“Um, yeah she’s right,” Rose said, her voice cracking slightly. She cursed herself, because the cracking voice caused Jordan to smirk and Erica to send her a pitying look. “We just ran into each other. I was asking him about classes. Nothing more.”

“Told you,” Erica said, rolling her eyes. “Scorpius would never downgrade from Mila like that.”

Rose couldn’t help but take a sharp intake of breath at her words, Erica’s words slicing her.

“Erica,” Declan said, his tone pointed. “You’re being rude.”

“I don’t mean offense, Weasley!” Erica said, her words seeming to catch up with her as she looked at Rose, who was obviously feeling hurt. Erica had an embarrassed look on her face. “I just…well we all know Scorpius and Mila’s phases. I’m sure they’ll be back together in a few months.”

Rose nodded, trying to hold in her tears until she could escape. “I, um, I have to go meet my brother.”

“Bye Weasley,” Erica said, still looking guilty at her words. Declan gave a wave, one hand still on Scorpius’s shoulder, who just looked down at the ground.

“Hope to see you with your nose out of a book more often,” Jordan said with a sneer. “Your face is really quite nice to look at. Same with your body.”

“You’re such a pig,” Erica said, shaking her head at Jordan.

Rose walked away, not chancing another look at Scorpius since she knew that would be too much. The tears started falling down her cheeks as she got farther away from them.

She had forgotten who she was to Scorpius’s circle. She had forgotten that they saw her as the quiet Weasley who’s nose was always in a book and who answered all the questions in class and never did anything else. She had forgotten that to them, Scorpius and Mila were a sure thing.

Despite all the pain she felt from that interaction, Rose still found that she felt hopeful about her and Scorpius and what was going to happen at Hogwarts. She couldn’t help but replay all the words he had said about them at school, knowing that Scorpius wouldn’t had said them unless he meant them.

She tried to think only of those words, and not wonder why he didn’t tell her about Mila’s letters.

* * *

Rose sat in her room, reading a book that night, when there was a tap at her window. She looked at her clock, seeing that it said _10:48 pm, August 27 th_. She frowned and went over to the window. She saw Scorpius’s owl on the other side, holding a little letter. She opened it, taking the letter gently off its leg.

_Meet me behind the tree where we first kissed at 11. -Scorp_

Rose took a deep breath, holding the letter to her chest. She felt relieved that he had contacted her after their run in with his friends today. She knew how she felt after it, she could only imagine that he probably felt the same. She had tried the whole day not to over think the interaction, not wonder why Scorpius moved away so quickly when he realized who it was, wonder why Erica thought Scorpius and Mila were a sure thing, wonder why Jordan was being such an arse.

Rose walked quietly out of her house, feeling grateful for her parents going to bed early, at 11. She shut the back door and smiled when she saw Scorpius already there waiting. She walked over, trying to make sure to stay in the shadows in case anyone looked out their window.

“Hey,” Scorpius said quietly as she approached.

“Hey,” Rose responded. “Are you staying with Al?”

“No, I, um,” Scorpius said, looking nervous at the ground. “I wanted to apologize. For today.”

Rose frowned. “Why are you apologizing?”

“I should have said something,” Scorpius said. “When Jordan was being a dick and Erica blurted. I was just wasn’t expecting that.”

“Me either,” Rose said. “I didn’t know that it would be such a big deal for us to be talking in public.”

Scorpius shrugged. “Most of us Slytherins stick to our own kind. Always weird when who always has suddenly doesn’t.”

Rose nodded, but couldn’t help frowning. An awkward silence came over them.

“Why didn’t—"

“Declan told me—"

“Sorry,” Scorpius said. “You go first.”

“Um,” Rose said, pushing her hair behind her ear. She didn’t like the space between them. He felt so far away, even though there was only a few feet between them. “Why didn’t you tell me Mila had written you?”

“Because I didn’t think it was important,” Scorpius said, shrugging. “She’s written me since school has been out. I haven’t looked at one but she keeps sending them.”

“Don’t you think she may need something?”

“She is probably just wanting to get back together,” Scorpius said. “I know her pattern.”

“You think you’ll upgrade again?” Rose asked, hating the bitterness in her voice.

“What?” Scorpius questioned, confused.

“Erica referred to me as a downgrade from Mila,” Rose said quietly. “I guess I’m just wondering if you were considering going back to her like she seemed convinced you were.”

“Weasley,” Scorpius said softly. He came closer to her then, enveloping her in a hug. “You’re not a downgrade. Trust me.” He pulled away to look at her in her eyes. “And I’m not planning to get back together with her.”

Rose nodded, though a part of her couldn’t help but doubt his words. “What were you saying before? About Declan?”

“Oh,” Scorpius said. He looked conflicted for a minute, before replacing it with a neutral face. “He just said it was nice to see you.”

Rose frowned, not believing him, but not having the energy to push back against him to know what Declan really said.

Rose rested her head on his shoulder, her arms coming around his middle to hug him. She held him close, the knot in her stomach that she had since she left Diagon Alley not leaving.

Scorpius held her close, rubbing her back softly.

“You really made my summer amazing, Rose,” Scorpius said and Rose couldn’t help but notice that his voice sounded kind of sad.

But Rose didn’t want to think about that. She held him tighter, picturing them at Hogwarts, picturing them being a couple.

For some reason, Rose felt like if she still had hope that it would happen, that it didn’t matter that Scorpius had felt distant the whole conversation.

Scorpius was the first to let go, pulling away and taking a step back.

“Good night, Rose,” Scorpius said quietly, his eyes not meeting hers.

“Good night,” Rose said, the knot in her stomach tightening as she realized that Scorpius didn’t seem to want to kiss her. Just a few hours earlier he hadn’t seemed to be able to stop kissing her and now he could barely look at her.

Rose turned, walking towards her house. Everything inside her told her something was wrong with him, he needed her in some way that he wasn’t asking. She was just outside her back door when she finally reached the courage to ask him. She was about to turn and walk back to the tree, but a hand got to her arm first.

Scorpius grabbed her arm, turning her around, kissing her fiercely, his hands cupping her face. Rose held onto him, her knees going weak, pushing herself into him as much as possible.

But just as quickly as it started it was over. Scorpius stepped back; his jaw locked tightly.

“Night,” he said. His whole body was stiff and had Rose not been coming off the high of the kiss, she might have been able to notice it more.

Rose walked into the house and went up to bed. She could still feel the taste of Scorpius on her lips and when she replayed the kiss in her mind, she realized that it had felt different than their other kisses.

This one felt final.

* * *

“Rose, are you ready to go?” her dad called from the bottom stair.

Rose walked out of her room, grabbing one last book to put in her trunk. “Coming!”

Ron smiled at her as she walked down the stairs. “One last book for school?”

“Of course,” Rose said, opening her trunk and throwing it on the top before closing it. Just like every time it was time to go to the Hogwarts Express, the excitement was coursing through her.

Of course, this year, she knew that it also had to do with seeing Scorpius again.

After that night under the tree, Rose barely saw Scorpius for the rest of August. She had noticed, but was also swamped in last minute packing, spending time with family, and more that she assumed that was what he was caught up in as well.

At least she hoped that’s what he was caught up in.

The way he kissed her that night was so different than all their other kisses, she couldn’t help but worry about whether or not her thinking that that kiss felt final was for a reason. Or if it was because she was tired and overthinking.

Either way, she hadn’t seen Scorpius. He had sent her letters, just small notes saying that he missed her and that he was sorry he couldn’t see her today. Rose saved all of them, because she hoped that if Scorpius was taking the time to write the notes, that he really must have just been busy.

He had mentioned in one letter how he was spending more time with his mum too. Rose knew how worried about her he was that something would happen while he was at school, so she respected his time, giving him space to have the quality family time he needed.

“You kids have everything?” Hermione asked. Rose and Hugo both nodded and Hermione ushered them all into the car.

On the way to Kings Cross, Rose and Hugo’s parents asked each of them questions about the upcoming school year, Hermione asking Rose about her studies while Ron and Hugo discussed the upcoming Quidditch season. When they reached Kings Cross, Ron unloaded their bags onto the carts, Rose and Hugo pushing their own. All four of them kept their eyes open for any relatives, in case there was anyone they could see last minute before going to school.

Hermione and Ron hugged and kissed both of their kids, each of them commenting on how proud they were of them and how much they loved them, before Rose and Hugo got onto the train, pulling their trunks with them. Hugo gave her a wave as he ran into friends, dragging his trunk into their compartment.

Rose continued walking down the hallway, looking into each compartment for either an empty one, or one with someone she knew. She was, of course, hoping to find Scorpius in an empty compartment as well.

“Rose! Hey!”

Rose looked up, seeing Graham coming towards her with a smile.

“Hey Graham,” Rose said. “How was the rest of your summer?”

“Good,” Graham said. “I snagged this compartment here. Do you need help with your trunk?”

“I would love that, thank you,” Rose said, handing her trunk to Graham. He grabbed it from her leading her towards the compartment. Rose took a second to look behind her, trying to see if she could find Scorpius, before walking towards the compartment Graham picked out.

She didn’t, so she walked in, Graham placing her trunk above. Rose smiled, seeing that Layla and their friend Inez were already in the compartment. Rose grabbed a spot next to Layla.

“You’re so chivalrous Graham,” Inez said as he put Rose’s trunk up. She smoothed her bleached hair as she watched him. “I don’t think I’ve ever had someone put my trunk up for me before and then you did it for all three of us. You sure know how to make a girl swoon.”

“What can I say,” Graham said, sitting down next to Inez. “I’m just a nice guy.”

“Well, we’re happy to vouch that you’re a gentleman to any prospective dates,” Layla said with a teasing smile at him.

Graham’s eyes flickered to Rose for a second before going back to Layla.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Graham said, before changing the subject.

The train lurched, signaling that they were beginning to journey to Hogwarts.

Rose and her friends spent the first hour of the ride talking about their summers before Graham pulled out his Wizard Chess set and set it up, each of them taking turns playing.

The current match was between Layla and Inez and they both were intensely focused on the game. So far, Inez had beaten both Graham and Rose, but that was no surprising. Inez was a master at chess, which added some interesting depth to her considering her love of gossip and make up. Many times, people looked at Inez, wondering how she got into Ravenclaw, but Rose knew that under that perfectly made up face was one of the most talented witches and an unbeatable chess opponent. The only person who was able to beat Inez at chess was Rose’s dad, but even then, it seemed like an even match.

There was a loud noise outside the compartment door, causing all of them too look up to the door. Through the window, they saw Jordan Freeman yelling down the hall. Rose pressed herself into the seat, hoping he wouldn’t see her. Declan came up behind him, pushing him forward, causing Jordan to stumble and Declan to laugh. Behind Declan, came Scorpius.

Rose felt her heart burst at the sight of him. He was talking to someone they couldn’t see, most likely Jordan, with that teasing smile on his face that she loved so much. It took all her control not to stand up, open the compartment door and kiss him as if her life depended on it.

He looked in the window then, glancing over everyone before his eyes landed on Rose. He gave her a tender smile before Declan glanced in, seeing Rose and smirking at Scorpius before clapping Scorpius on the back and pushing him forward, just like he had done to Jordan.

“Tossers,” Graham said under his breath.

“Graham they aren’t that bad,” Inez said, shaking her head.

“They are being obnoxious in the hall,” Graham responded.

“That’s hardly makes them tossers,” Inez said. “Loud and obnoxious? Yes. Tossers? Not quite.”

“Being with them individually is different too,” Layla said. “Al was with Scorpius a lot this summer so I saw him and he was a completely different bloke. He’s actually quite kind.”

Rose gave a soft smile at Layla for defending Scorpius. She knew Layla didn’t have to, and probably didn’t want to, but Rose appreciated all the same.

“Have you guys heard the gossip with Malfoy?” Inez said, looking up from the chess game with excited eyes.

“Is this going to be true gossip or more like that rumor you told us about Louis Weasley was secretly a troll?” Layla asked, with one eyebrow raised.

“It’s true gossip!” Inez defended.

“Sure, it is,” Rose said, laughing slightly. “Inez, I love you, but your gossip is sometimes worse than Rita Skeeter.”

“Well this one I heard from the source herself!” Inez said.

This caused Rose to frown, confused as to the ‘her’ Inez was talking about.

Most of the time, Inez heard whisperings or had a feeling about something, which is why she came up with outlandish rumors. Very rarely had Inez every been right except—

Except when she heard them directly from her cousin.

Rose immediately felt her mouth dry out at the realization that if Inez had gossip about Scorpius and heard it from a girl, that she had most likely heard whatever she had heard from her cousin. Her cousin Mila.

Also known as Scorpius’s ex-girlfriend.

Layla seemed to realize this too because her eyes widened before glancing at Rose quickly.

“So, what’s the gossip?” Graham asked, sounding bored. “Or are you just going to leave these two in suspense.”

Inez frowned at him. “Don’t act like you aren’t curious. You’re always the one who believes everything I say.”

“Even though he shouldn’t,” Layla said quietly.

Inez glared at her, before fixing her hair.

“Well, I spent a lot of time with Mila this summer,” Inez said, already confirming Rose’s worst fears. Rose hoped, just hoped that whatever Mila said wasn’t that bad. “And you know, her and Malfoy broke up at the end of the year last year. She spent all summer writing him letters but he never responded. Mila told me that even Declan hadn’t heard from him most of the summer.”

Layla nodded and Inez looked at them, clearly loving how attentive both Rose and Layla were to this gossip, when they normally only gave her half their attention at most.

“And you know, Scorpius and Mila do this. They break up, take time away from each other, and then get back together. She thought he just needed space; you know? But then she started getting worried because by August, she still hadn’t heard from him,” Inez said, shaking her head. “She was a mess. Crying constantly, convinced that he must have found a new girl to be with.”

Rose felt her face begin to warm and bit her lip, trying to keep a neutral reaction.

“Mila’s heart was absolutely broken. She spent almost all of August in bed, just completely devastated,” Inez said dramatically. “And then she gets to a spot where she’s okay. Still sad, still wanting Scorpius, but okay. So, she sends him a letter saying that, that if he wants to end things completely with her, she understands, but that she is also open to meeting and talking about getting back together if he wants. Just her attempt at being okay with them being done but also putting it out that she is still very interested.”

“Did completely moving on from the bloke occur to her?” Graham asked, causing Inez to glare at him.

“ _Anyway_ , she has no expectations. She’s obviously hoping he writes back, saying he wants her back, but she isn’t expecting it,” Inez said. “But then he does! And he says that he will meet with her and talk to her!”

There was a moment of silence, which Layla breaks.

“So, what does that mean?” Layla asks. “Are they back together?”

Layla’s eyebrows and furrowed and Rose can tell that Layla does not like this gossip. She can tell that Layla, sweet, sweet Layla, was hoping beyond anything that her warning to Rose earlier in the summer would be wrong and was getting frustrated that Scorpius could have reacted in the exact way she expected him to.

“No, not officially,” Inez said. “Mila is very excited though and thinks they will be. She thinks he may have had a little summer fling, but she supposes it’s over now.”

Rose felt her heart lurch.

“But does Malfoy want to get back together with her?” Layla asked with an edge to her voice. Inez seemed taken aback, clearly confused by Layla’s tone.

Rose wasn’t though. Rose knew that Layla was angry that she was right. That Scorpius was going right back to Mila.

“I—I don’t know,” Inez said, her eyes shifting to Rose, in confusion. Rose shrugged, hoping that it came across that she didn’t know what was going on. “I don’t think he said that in the letter, but Mila said that if he wanted to end things fine, but she would meet and get back together with him if he wanted. So, she’s taking him wanting to meet as him getting back together.”

“Fucking Malfoy,” Layla said under her breath. She looked up to confused glances from Graham and Inez, clearly realizing she needed to come up with an excuse for her tone. “For doing that to her. Graham is right, he is a tosser.”

“I can’t believe I just heard the words ‘Graham was right’ come out of your mouth,” Graham said, putting a hand on his chest. “Am I dreaming?”

The conversation floated back around to Layla and Inez continuing their game chess, with Inez in the end coming out victorious. Graham asked Layla to play, saying that Inez had her fair share of turns and she should let someone else play.

Rose had been watching them, trying her best to engage, but feeling distracted, Inez’s words kept circulating in her head.

“I’m going to go use the loo,” Rose said, standing up. Graham and Layla waved her off, too engrossed in their game to say more, while Inez kept making comments about the moves each of them could make to beat the other.

Rose walked down the hall towards the bathroom, checking each compartment to see if there was an empty one, she could sit in for a few minutes to try to clear her head. She was only a few compartments away from the restroom when she looked in one compartment and saw one of the last things she wanted to see.

Scorpius and Mila were there, sitting opposite of each other in the compartment. Scorpius was looking down at his hands, nodding while Mila spoke to him. He looked serious, not meeting her eyes.

Mila, of course, looked absolutely gorgeous. Her hair was up in a cute ponytail, make up perfectly done. Unlike Rose, Mila was almost as tall as Scorpius, so her knees touched Scorpius’s even though they were sitting across from each other.

But what caused more of a reaction from Rose was the look on Mila’s face.

She was looking at Scorpius so brightly, with so much love and hope. It was clear, to anyone walking by, how much she loved him and how she wanted to be with him. Rose had always brushed Mila aside when thinking of her relationship with Scorpius, thinking that Mila was a vapid airhead, who only wanted to date Scorpius to have a boyfriend. That their relationship was only physical with no emotional substance.

But looking at Mila’s face there, Rose understood that Mila loved Scorpius. That their relationship was more than it seemed and that’s why they were so back and forth. Not because there was no one else, but because they genuinely cared for and loved one other.

That must have been why they were seen as a sure thing by their friends.

A wave of pain coursed through Rose as she realized that Scorpius always belonged to Mila. He never belonged to Rose; she was just a summer fling before he went back to Mila.

Rose started walking towards the bathroom, feeling tears come to her eyes. She heard a door open behind her but didn’t look, couldn’t look, out of fear that she would see Mila and Scorpius walking hand in hand and looking completely in love. She heard footsteps behind her before a hand touched her back softly, pushing her into a bathroom. She turned her head and saw Scorpius, who was now locking the door behind them.

She tried to put more space between them, but there was only so far, she could go in a room that had a toilet and sink and little room for much else.

Scorpius turned back around. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Rose said, her voice cracking. Rose cursed herself, trying to will the tears away.

“What’s wrong?” Scorpius asked, concerned. He took a small step closer, but Rose took a small one back, feeling the sink dig into her back.

“Nothing,” Rose said softly. “I-um, how was your talk with Mila?”

“What?” Scorpius asked her confused.

“Inez told us that you were meeting with her,” Rose said, trying her best not to cry. “And that Mila was wanting to get back together with you. So, when I saw you guys talking in the compartment, I assumed that’s what it was about.”

“You saw us?” Scorpius said frowning. “I didn’t even see you—”

“You were looking at the ground,” Rose said. “Mila though, Mila was looking at you. And wow, I severely underestimated your relationship with her. I could tell by the look on her face as she talked to you that she—”

Rose cut herself off, realizing that she almost said that Mila felt the same way about Scorpius that Rose did. They both were in love with him.

“I just got it then,” Rose said softly. “You’re hers. You’ve always been hers.”

“Rose—”

“No, don’t say anything, I get it,” Rose said, wiping her eyes. “I get it now. I was never scared to lose you because…because you weren’t mine to lose.”

Scorpius seemed taken aback and Rose saw hurt flash through his eyes.

“You were hers always,” Rose said. “So, if you want to go back to her, you can. I’ll be okay.”

There was moment of silence, Scorpius’s jaw locked before Rose spoke again.

“This was just a fun summer thing, right?” Rose said, biting her lip. “I mean, we never talked about what it would be like when we got back to Hogwarts and obviously after running into your friends you realized how hard it would be for us to date. So, this was just a fun, summer thing, nothing serious.”

Rose’s heart was screaming at her for pushing him away even though she was in love with him.

“A fun summer thing?” Scorpius asked quietly. “Is that all you want us to be?”

Rose gulped. “I mean, wasn’t it? You weren’t mine. You’ve always been Mila’s.”

Scorpius didn’t say anything, looking at Rose almost as if silently asking her if she was serious. Rose felt that hope creeping up, that maybe he wasn’t Mila’s, maybe they weren’t back together, but she pushed it down.

Scorpius Malfoy wasn’t Rose Weasley’s.

“Fine,” Scorpius said softly, sounding defeated. “If that’s what you want, Weasley.”

He turned and opened the door, walking out and letting it close behind him without a second glance. Rose felt herself crumble then, reaching forward to lock the door before sitting on the ground a sob over taking her.

She knew that one day, her and Scorpius’s August together would slip away into just a little moment in time that they shared and would be something she would look back on fondly.

But as she sat there, crying in the cramped bathroom on her way to school, all she could do was remind herself that she shouldn’t have been so upset. Scorpius Malfoy was never hers to lose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed it. I am hard at work at the next work in this series...any guesses as to which folklore song it is based off of?
> 
> Please leave kudos, comments and bookmark this story if you enjoyed! I would love to hear what you thought!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please kudos, comment and make sure you subscribe so you know when the next chapter comes out!


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